The present invention relates to a window (Such a term xe2x80x9cwindowxe2x80x9d, in general, means, in applications and graphical interfaces, a portion of the screen that can contain its own document or message.) control apparatus and method, and particularly relates to a window control apparatus and method having a function for controlling a window in accordance with a voice-input other than input including a keyboard input or a pointing-device input; the voice-input control being executable as a result of recognizing voice-input. A computer system may employ such a window control apparatus and method so as to improve control efficiency thereof.
There are some examples, in related art, of applications of such a voice-input control system (called xe2x80x9cvoice recognition systemxe2x80x9d) for computer control. In an example of such a voice recognition system according to the related art, a process of recognizing voice-input is executed in response to a corresponding command output by the computer. The voice recognition system of the above related art, after outputting to the computer a recognition execution result then waits for a next command.
In computer systems including, for example, a so-called personal computer and a so-called work station, a window system is used as a so-called graphical user interface. Such a graphical user interface, in general, is a type of display format that enables the user to choose commands, start programs, and see lists of files and other options by pointing to pictorial representations (icons) and lists of menu items on the screen.
However, there are only few examples in the related art of system using voice-input control system for controlling windows. The examples include an example disclosed in a reference xe2x80x9cC. Schemandt, 6th Symposium on Human Interface 1321, p 533-540 (1990, Tokyo)xe2x80x9d.
A computer system which employs such a window system, in general, has a construction comprising software and/or hardware, in which the control of such a window in the screen is, in general, close in relationship to the control of the operating system (OS) and it is thus difficult to control the window by means of voice-input. Thus, it is necessary for realizing a voice recognition process in the system that the system may provide a signal to the operating system (OS), such signal resulting from executing voice input, as if the input had been executed by the keyboard or the mouse(a mouse is used as a pointing device). The term pointing device, in general, means an input device used to control an on-screen cursor for such actions as xe2x80x9cpressingxe2x80x9d on-screen buttons in dialog boxes, choosing menu items, and selecting ranges of cells in spreadsheets or groups of words in a document. The most common pointing device is the mouse.
In the computer system of the related art, comprising the above mentioned construction, in a case where a voice-input operation is executed so as to control the window system, a method for activating particular windows may be, in general, easily devised such that a name is given to each window and then an operation of calling such a name results in a corresponding window being activated. In this computer system of the related art, reference voice patterns have to be registered as well as do names used for identifying particular windows. Then, after determining the names (comprising words) used for the particular windows by the user, the user""s calling the name results in activating the corresponding window. However, it is troublesome for the user to register reference voice patterns as well as registering those names of the particular windows.
There are two reasons for the requirement that the user has to register his or her reference voice patterns as well as register words themselves in the voice recognition system. A first reason is that, because characteristic quantities of voice input vary depending on particular speakers, it may be technically difficult to accurately and uniformly recognize voice input regardless of differences between particular speakers. Thus, it may take time for finally reaching an accurate recognition without registering the reference voice patterns of the speaker. A second result ensures the above first result. By registering the reference voice patterns of the speaker, the voice recognition system may reach an accurate voice recognition relatively easily. Thus, it is possible that many and various words may be recognized by the system with relatively high speed.
Further, a pointing device such as a mouse is generally used for control of the window system. In using a mouse as a pointing device for control of the window system, troublesome operations are required for a desired window to be activated, following which a desired control command must be searched for and specified from among a plurality of control commands provided for control of the window. (The search may be executed successively so that repeated selecting may be executed for tracing a tree construction or a hierarchy construction i.e. from a generic command to more specific commands.) The operations generally take up a considerable amount of time for activating the desired window from among a plurality of windows by accessing data concerning the window as a result of retrieval of data concerning the window, and then the operations for selecting the control command are still required. Thus, those operations are troublesome and time consuming for the user.
Furthermore, in the system of the related art system employing the voice-input system, all words concerning the plurality of windows have to be obtained by the system through recognition of voice-input, thus a degrading of the recognition efficiency occurs and a considerable amount of time is required for the recognition process. (A degrading of the recognition efficiency includes, for example, increase of the time required for finally reaching an accurate voice recognition result.)
An object of the present invention is to provide a window control apparatus and method which are applicable to computer systems including, for example, a personal computer and a work station, the computer system employing inputting means including a keyboard and a mouse, the window control apparatus and method providing efficient control of a window system by means of voice-input.
To achieve the above object, a window control apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
display means for displaying at least a window of plurality of windows; and
window switching means for switching a currently active window among said plurality of windows, the switching being in accordance with a corresponding voice-input, said voice-input comprising a relationship command, said relationship command indicating a relationship between the currently active window and another window from among said plurality of windows, which other window is to be the active window.
By the above constitution, the voice-input recognition is carried out on a limited number of words indicating the above relationship between the currently active window and a window, to be activated.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.